Policy —

EU bashes DRM, won’t support “three strikes” rules

France and the European Commission have fought another round in their battle …

Try as they might, the French simply cannot seem to get the rest of the EU to go along with their favored measure for handling Internet piracy. The French, responding to requests from the content industry, have decided that illicit file-swapping demands a "graduated response," a euphemism for a three-strikes approach that would ultimately see ISPs cut off the Internet access of repeat pirates. The rest of Europe remains largely uncomfortable with this approach, and has managed to keep graduated response out of the EU's formal conclusions for dealing with online content and cultural material.

To recap, the EU passed a Telecom Package designed to reform the union's telecom regulations and open up increased competition across borders. Attempts to have graduated response made part of that package went nowhere, and the European Parliament actually passed an amendment that undermined the three strikes policy—it dictated that the judiciary had to be involved in any action that could cut a user's 'Net connection.

EU Commissioner Viviane Reding of Luxembourg announced, however, that she hopes to see the amendment pulled from the final package, suggesting that support for graduated response still exists at high levels within the Commission, if not the Parliament.

The French Senate then went on to pass three strikes legislation that appears to be at odds with the EU Telecom Package. Although the measure still needs to pass the French Assembly, it's clear that the two legislative bodies are on a collision course.

Some were hoping to see the matter revisited by the EU's Council on Education, Youth, and Culture, which met last Thursday. On the agenda for the meeting: "Conclusions on the development of legal offers of online cultural and creative content and the prevention and combating of piracy in the digital environment." The stated goal of preventing online privacy would seem like the perfect opportunity to bring up the graduated response issue.

According to EurActive, French ministers did in fact attempt to include compulsory legal sanctions included as part of the Conclusions. They failed. The final document (PDF) does address piracy but doesn't recommend any specific steps to stop it.

The document notes that piracy "in some cultural and creative sectors is reaching a critical threshold," and "is likely to do lasting harm to the appropriate remuneration of copyright holders and holders of related rights." But the Conclusions simply recommend gathering statistics on the matter, and the vague statement suggests that member states should start "finding concrete, effective and fair solutions promoting the development of legal online offer and the prevention and combating of piracy."

Cumbersome DRM schemes come in for as many harsh words as piracy. The document decries "the lack of interoperability or transparency" in DRM schemes, and it argues that this creates a security risk for consumers, and can prevent them from using content on the platform of their choice. It calls for increased transparency of DRM regimes and asks all interested parties to work towards promoting interoperability of these systems.

In fact, the Conclusions seem to focus more on promoting the online exchange of cultural material than on piracy. The Council "considers with interest" that "the online distribution of cultural and creative assets, particularly via the Internet, provides a tremendous opportunity for everyone to have access to culture, economic development, employment and cultural diversity."

If the content industry was hoping to use this document to help get three strikes rules backed by official EU findings, then they fell well short of the mark.